Following the expiration of the tenure of the leadership of Labour Party (LP), the former President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Abdulwaheed Omar, is to lead a Transition Committee of the party (LP) with a mandate to reposition the party.
The committee has effectively filled the current vacuum in the leadership of the party.
Comrade Omar emerged the leader of the committee at a Labour Party stakeholders meeting in Abuja, which had in attendance representatives of the NLC Political Commission, Labour Party members, some past leaders of the party, delegates from LP support groups and representative of the 2023 Presidential candidate of the party, Peter Obi.
The core mandate of the committee is to conduct an all-inclusive national convention within the next three months.
Other members of the committee include Prof. Sam Amadi and Abiodun Olamosu, who were appointed as Co-chairmen to work with Comrade Omar, while Mr. Nnawuihe Nwauwa is expected to serve as Secretary of the Committee.
Former Presidential candidate of the party, Peter Obi, was represented at the meeting by the Spokesman, Peter Obi Media Reach (POMR), Dr Yunusa Tanko.
The meeting which held on Wednesday was the second Stakeholders meeting of the party’s stakeholders after the earlier meeting in April 2024.
The stakeholders also resolved to set up 13 sub-committees to oversee every aspect of the administration of the Labour Party.
Addressing journalists shortly after the meeting, Vice Chairman of the NLC Political Commission, Prof. Theophilus Ndubuaku, said the stakeholders met to implement the resolutions earlier reached at its inaugural meeting.
Ndubuaku said with the setting up of the transition committee, the Labour Party no longer has a leadership vacuum, adding that the Committee was expected to commence work immediately.
He said: “We have decided to put in place a transition committee in view of the vacuum of leadership that exists in the Labour Party. In view of that, the stakeholders have unanimously resolved that former president of the NLC, Comrade Abdulwaheed Omar should head the Transition Committee of the Labour Party.
“Also, two Co-chairmen, Prof. Sam Amadi and Abiodun Olamosu, were appointed to work with Comrade Omar, while Mr. Nnawuihe Nwauwa is to serve as Secretary of the Committee.”
Recall that in March, the National Chairman of the Labour Party, Julius Abure, was returned elected from the national convention of the party which took place in Nnewi, Anambra State.
But the NLC rejected the outcome of the convention, saying that Abure was deceiving himself by parading himself as the national chairman of the party.
Ndubuaku said that 13 sub-committees were also appointed to take care of different aspects of the administration of the transition committee which will work to conduct a national convention of the party as soon as possible within the next three months
He said that members of the 13 sub-committees were drawn from different stakeholders of the Labour Party, covering the entire country, including former members of the National Working Committee.
Comrade Omar, expressed his commitment to diligently and collaboratively working with all members of the transition committee to fulfil their given mandate.
He disclosed that the transition committee will hold its first meeting on Thursday, May 23, to draw a roadmap on how to immediately reposition the affairs of the Labour Party, which he said has suffered significant damage in the hands of the Julius Abure-led executive.
When asked about legality of the emergence of the transition committee, Omar said that the stakeholders relied on the 2009 constitution of the Labour Party as the authentic and binding document, saying that under the Abure-led leadership of the party, there are two different constitutions of the party in operation.
Omar further said that the new transition committee will not do anything to undermine the interest of the party in the forthcoming off-circle elections in Edo and Ondo states, so long as the candidates of the party are law abiding.
Responding to a question on the recent visit of the party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, to the LP headquarters, he noted that the former governor went to address candidates contesting for FCT Area Council elections.
He said there is clear evidence to show that Obi is strongly in support of the efforts of the Labour Party stakeholders to reposition the party.
Obi’s representative at the Stakeholders’ Meeting, Dr Yunusa Tanko had earlier clarified that Peter Obi’s visit to the national headquarters of the party was not to endorse anybody, adding that Obi has continually emphasised the need to reconcile all interest groups, as well as unity and transparency in the handling of the affairs of the party.
The NLC Political Commission had convened the Stakeholders’ Meeting based on its status in the Constitution of the Labour Party as the registered Trustee of the party as affirmed in a Federal High Court consent Judgement delivered on March 20, 2018 by Justice Gabriel Kolawole.